Homeland Security chief ordered ICE to pause vehicle stops after two migrants were shot dead in a week, but Trump reversed it the next morning

According to The Daily Mail, President Donald Trump has reversed a directive from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that ordered ICE to pause vehicle stops. The move came after two migrants were fatally shot by agents in separate incidents within one week, sparking protests across the country and a direct order from the head of the Department of Homeland Security.

The initial order, issued on Tuesday, told ICE officers to immediately stop all vehicle stops. It followed a conversation between Secretary Mullin and Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins, who had pushed the agency to halt all non-urgent traffic stops. The decision was a direct response to two recent deaths, one in Texas and one in Maine.

Trump made his position clear on Wednesday in a Truth Social post, praising ICE officers and saying the agency could not give up its ability to conduct traffic stops. “Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands,” Trump wrote. The public reversal put Secretary Mullin in a difficult spot, given that similar tensions around immigration enforcement operations had previously led to the departure of his predecessor, Kristi Noem, in March.

Two fatal shootings in one week set off a national controversy over ICE traffic stops

The events that triggered the policy shift began on July 7 in Houston, where Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old father of three, was shot and killed by an ICE agent while driving to work. Less than a week later, on July 13, agents in Biddeford, Maine, opened fire on a car they say tried to flee during a stakeout outside a home, killing 26-year-old Colombian national Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero.

Reports indicate that neither man was the intended target of their respective operations. The agents involved in both shootings were not wearing body cameras. Homeland Security has maintained that both drivers attempted to run over law enforcement personnel, but the department has not provided evidence to support those accounts. 

The agent involved in the Maine shooting was reportedly a new recruit who joined the agency last year. Similar justifications for using lethal force have been invoked in other incidents, such as when agents shot a man in Northern California.

The two shootings triggered widespread public outcry. After the Maine incident, protesters gathered in Portland and Lewiston, and demonstrators also assembled outside Senator Collins’ office. Protesters were seen holding signs and chanting “ICE out.” 

In Houston, thousands took to the streets, including at a large rally outside City Hall and a packed city council meeting. The political debate intensified when Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez linked ICE funding levels to enforcement violence, pointing to two fatal shootings in one week.

Despite the initial pause, Border Czar Tom Homan indicated the change was always meant to be short-lived. “I wouldn’t even call this a bump in the road. This is going to be a short-term review, so ICE feels comfortable that their agents are safe, they’re doing the right thing and get back to doing what they do best,” Homan said.

Trump’s reversal the following morning effectively ended the pause before it could take full effect, leaving questions about how the Department of Homeland Security will adjust its operations going forward and what, if any, policy changes will follow the two deaths.